


Dammit

by le_chat_vilain



Series: The Joker and the Thief [7]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Gotham City Sirens (Comics), Suicide Squad (2016)
Genre: Action, F/M, Violence, coarse language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 21:32:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5221673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/le_chat_vilain/pseuds/le_chat_vilain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An early morning visitor in the basement results in an unexpected reconciliation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dammit

**Author's Note:**

> After the last couple of chapters having zero chill, I made this one pretty tame to give y’all some time to come down a bit. It's a bit fluffy, a bit gals being pals that kind of thing.
> 
> Soundtrack: Dammit by blink-182

It’s been three days and as far as I know, nobody has found my father’s body leading me to assume he must have had the weekend off.

I hear a door slam and wake with a start just before 8am. Lifting my head from its spot on his chest, I glance down to see him still fast asleep, hair a mess and stomach rising and falling gently with each breath. He stirs a little as I slip away from him and I pause, waiting for him to settle before I pull on one of his t-shirts and leave the room to investigate, pistol at the ready. I flip the switch on the wall and the lights flicker on.

It’s a cat. There is a cat on the pool table drinking from a saucer of milk, and tied to its collar is a roll of paper.

_“Gotham City Zoo. 0900. Come alone.”_

Selina. Even without the ever so appropriately cliché messenger, I’d recognize that handwriting anywhere; elegant and sharp, graceful yet aggressive, just like the woman herself. Immediately I empty my bag onto the table and sweep the inside. Sure enough the little metal tracker drops out onto the felt.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” I curse under my breath. How could I have been so stupid? I led her right to him. Pacing around the apartment I begin to rationalize the situation. She was just here, and she didn’t hurt either of us though she would have had plenty of chances. Maybe she just wants to talk. Of course, it could also be a trap.

So do I stay, ignore it all together and forever wonder what it was about? Live on edge waiting for her to come back? Or do I go, satisfy my curiosity and pay whatever price it might fetch? I stroll over to the doorway and peer in again: still out like a light. If I warn him, wake him and tell him the truth, I’ll also have to tell him that I was stupid enough not to check the bag Selina packed for me for a lo-jack. That could end badly. If I leave him be, I can’t be sure no harm will come to him while I’m gone, if Selina knows where we are then there’s a good chance the others do as well, and she’s the rational one of the lot. He’s more than capable of taking care of himself, but in sleep, the lion and the lamb are equals.

I dress quickly and come up with an alternative plan that should at least buy me a little time. My stomach is aching. There’s no way I’ll get pants on for the next couple of days, but I also don’t own anything other. Grabbing one of his shirts I improvise, it’s just long enough once I belt it at my waist. I place the tracker on the pool table next to the saucer of milk and stuff my things back into the bag which I sling onto the couch, so he knows I haven’t left him.  I also leave Selina’s note, - along with one of my own that just reads “BRB” - tucked under his revolver on the coffee table. I take as many weapons as I can conceal with me just in case. When I’m sure I have everything I need, I march over to the cat, pick it up by the scruff, and toss it onto the bed so that it lands on his stomach, before bolting out of the flat as fast as my feet can carry me. If this is a trap, and the other two come for him, at least he’ll be awake and ready to fend for himself.

The pain in my stomach also means the bike is out of the question, so I take the subway, and 45min later I’m emerging up onto the street from the station. Forking out for the entry fee, I weave my way between the families, lovers, and tourists, towards the lion enclosure.

But when I get there, it’s not Selina who’s waiting to greet me.

“Harley?”

“Hey, kid.”

_Shit._  My chest tightens up and my heart begins to beat faster as I approach. I was not expecting this, not in a thousand years. There’s something tucked under her arm, and as soon as I’m in reach she hands it to me; today’s newspaper. They’ve found the body.

“So, ya finally did it,” she remarks. “Ya know, they think it was him, found his prints and everythin’ at the scene. You just settin’ him up for a fall or do ya really trust him that much?”

Her big blue eyes lock onto mine, and I’m at a loss for words. In them I see everything from curiosity, to hurt, anger, to love. I open my mouth to speak but nothing substantial comes out, not unless she can hear the pounding of my heart as panic takes a hold of it.

“Harls…Look, I…it just happened…we just…”

“I know,” she says, and proving the day was most certainly one for surprises, pulls me into her arms and hugs me, just like she used to. It’s a surreal feeling, being this close to her again, especially after I know how much I’ve hurt her; then again, she always was the better of the both of us. When she releases me she just looks at me and smiles, not a crazy, typical Harley smile either, it’s warm and genuine.

“…you’re not mad?” I ask her tentatively.

“I was. I wanted to sick my babies on ya and eat popcorn while ya screamed!” she laughs. Well thank God that didn’t happen.

“So…what changed your mind? Selina?”

“You did. Soon as I saw the papers this mornin’. Selina just helped me get ya here,” she gestures with a nod of her head and we begin a leisurely walk through the zoo.

“I did?” I query. What does she mean I did? I didn’t do anything.

“I know you, kid, I know you wouldn’t take just anybody to that place with ya. So I guess he knows about ya big secret now too, huh?”

I nod my head slowly, scuffing my boots on the concrete as I drag my feet.

“And?”

“And what?” Why would there be an ‘and’ about that? So he knows I’m an Arkham, big deal, it’s not like it seems to make a difference to him.

“He wasn’t mad atcha?” she asks in astonishment.

“No, why would he be?”

“Well, how much did ya tell him?”

“…Everything,” I say.

“Even…ya know…” she asks, eyebrows raised and hand waving at my stomach.

“Everything.” I pause and beckon her closer, then undo a couple of the buttons over my stomach to show her.

“Oh kid, wow, that’s…hang on, did he ask ya before he did that?”

“Of course he did,” I reply incredulously.

If you could define the word bittersweet with a photograph, then it would be one of Harley’s face in this moment. Through her disbelief shone rays of disappointment, elation, and acceptance that ultimately result in a pained smile.

“What?”

“Nothin’, I’m happy for ya, kid. I mean it hurts…thinkin’ bout my puddin’ with someone else…but…better the devil I know, right?”

“Hey, Harls, it’s not…” Serious.

“Serious?” she finishes my sentence for me. She was always good at knowing what I was about to say. “Ha! You keep tellin’ yourself that, but I know both of ya better than maybe you know yourselves, and serious is the exact word I’d use to describe whatever it is you two a got goin’ on.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second, Harley.” She might be crazy now, but she’s still a shrink underneath it all, and a damn good one.

“I know ya don’t, kid,” she starts with a melancholy smile, “But trust me, that man don’t ask permission from nobody for nothin’, and you? You’re the most secretive person I ever met, but he knows ya deepest darkest after two weeks? Come on.”

“Alright, alright, you’ve made your point!” I smile and let out a soft laugh, my face turning up to the sky and the sun beaming down on my skin. “So…we’re good then? I don’t need to sleep with a gun under my pillow?”

“If ya do, it won’t be ‘cause a me…though you might wanna watch out for Red, she’s pretty steamed,” she says with a smile. “We’re good, kid. As good as we can be for now.”

The sigh of relief I breathe is so strong that I’m sure it could be felt throughout the entire city. I’ve always hated fighting with Harley. She’s messed up and a bit misguided, but at the end of the day she really is a good person. I find myself wondering what our relationship would be like if she’d never met him, if she was still a doctor at Arkham, treating us crazies instead of being locked in there with us. Would she have still helped me escape? Would I have still met him and ended up where I am now? In a strange way, I think ultimately this conversation would have taken place in one form or another; either way, she’d still become the big sister I never had, always looking out for me no matter how much of a cunt I’ve been.

Her cellphone starts ringing and she procures it from her pocket to answer.

“Hey kitty, what’s-”

Harley holds the phone away from her as the cacophony blares through the tiny speaker, loud enough for me and several passers by to hear. I hear Selina’s voice shouting something about Pam through the ruckus and Harley pulls her ‘oh shit’ face before hanging up.

“We better get back to ya little love bunker, sounds like we gotta problem!” she explains. “Please tell me ya bought that bike a yours?”

“Actually, I took the subway.”

“Shit.”

By the time we get back to the theatre all hell has broken loose. I rush through the door to see Selina standing between Pam and Joker, whip around Pam’s torso holding her arms by her sides, and a gun trained on him. Pam is almost on fire with rage, and he’s just standing there, hands held up by his head and panting, trying not to lose his composure. He’s in just his grey sweat pants, and his torso and forearms are peppered with tiny cuts that I imagine must have come from the thorns on the myriad of vines laying lifeless on the floor.

“Please tell me you two have come to some kind of reconciliation!” Selina snaps at me and Harley. When Pam turns her head and see’s me she starts struggling again.

“You! You turncoat little shit! After everything she’s done for you!” she spits. “I’m gonna rip that pretty-”

“Whoa, Jesus Christ! Red, stand down! It’s all good, we hashed it out!” Harley implores Pam, racing over to her and taking her by the shoulders to sooth her.

Selina lowers her pistol, and Joker lowers his hands and looks to me for an explanation. He’s clearly not happy – presumably about the security breach - and I know that there will be words had about this as soon as they’re out of our hair. Pam finally stops struggling against her bonds, and Selina releases her cautiously. The five of us stand there in awkward silence, just tensely looking at one another waiting for someone to have an outburst. It’s Harley who speaks first.

“Ya actually care about her, dontcha, puddin’?” she asks him. Their eyes lock and they share some kind of unspoken conversation while the rest of us look on. It makes me oddly uncomfortable, knowing that even after everything they went through and everything he did to her, they still have that bond, that they’re still so at ease with each other. Their telepathic conference concludes with a emphatic nod of her head, and he looks back to me with a slow smile and a shrug of his shoulders. “You treat her right, ya hear? Ya don’t and we’ll be the least a your problems. Mess with her, she’ll skin ya in your sleep and crack your skull open for fun.”

“Oh, I know,” he tells her while he looks at me, and swaggers over shaking his head and flashing me a grin, stopping a few inches in front of me before pulling me towards him by my wrists.

“Urgh, unbelievable!” Pam scoffs. “Are you fucking kidding me? Harley, are you really just letting this go?”

“Look at ‘em, Red, who am I ta stand in the way a that?” Harley takes Pam by the cheeks and forces her to look at us, standing there smirking at each other like idiots. “She ain’t like me, she ain’t too good for him.”

“Bitch!” I quip at her in jest. She’s managing to tell the truth and kid at the same time.

“Shut it, slut,” she fires back, poking her tongue out at me with a twist in her lips. God bless her hopelessly romantic heart.

“Yeah, well, on that note, unless you ladies wanna front row seat to some x-rated theatre, I suggest you get the fuck out of my basement,” he warns them without taking his eyes off mine.

Almost in perfect unison, Selina and Pam roll their eyes and make noises that express their exact level of disgust at the thought, and they all start marching for the door. Harley’s first out, shooting me a wink on her way, followed by Pam and a scowl that would have killed the pair of us if such things were possible.

Selina goes to leave without a word.

“Hey!” I call out, and she pauses in the doorway, “That was a dick move, lo-jacking me like that, but I get why you did it.”

I know she was just looking out for me; always our mamma kitty.

She glances over her shoulder and looks from me to him and back again before nodding her head in agreement. She knows what I’m asking: don’t tell the Bat, and keep the others in line too. “Secret’s safe with me, kid.”

The door clicks shut behind her and when I turn my eyes back to his he’s glaring down at me with the fury of hell itself.


End file.
